Thoughts at not far off halfway through Bagombo Snuff Box

Despite some criticisms of Vonnegut, and the reviews I've read of the latest biography of him adds to the potential reasons for disillusionment, I have to confess I like him.

Sometimes his writing takes refrains and pushes them to the limit but here in a collection of short stories the writing is tight and clever.

This collection was some of his first published work and he paints a picture of a post war America trying to find itself. Does the future lie in discovering the secrets of space? Can wealth bring happiness? Or can lessons be learnt from the life and death split second events of war?

So far Vonnegut has tackled all of those questions with wit, inventive tiara and solid writing.

The second half should be as good and although the style of Slaughterhouse 5 is not quite here it is good to see a writer able to deliver some thought provoking stuff in the short story format.

A review will follow on completion of the book (soon hopefully)...